Which big-time
bandleader and North Carolina native broke all
sorts of attendance records, appeared in nearly a
dozen movies, and became the top moneymaker in his
field  all without learning to play a musical
instrument? If you dont say Kay Kyser, the
"Old Perfesser"  thats right,
youre wrong!

Leader of a
student orchestra at the University of North
Carolina, Kyser took his charisma  and his
band  nationwide. His swing band hit it big
once Ksyer began the "Kollege of Musical Knowledge"
radio broadcast, which won huge ratings and
sold-out audiences. From that springboard, Kyser
appeared in movies and television, and did his part
for World War II by entertaining U.S. troops at
home and abroad.

A few years after
the war, Kyser left show business at his peak of
popularity, retiring with his cover-girl wife to
Chapel Hill to raise a family and devote the
remainder of his life to public service and
spirituality. Among Kysers causes were
supporting his alma mater, improving health care in
the state, establishing public television and a
highway safety program, and spreading the doctrine
of Christian Science.